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Canucks look to rebound on big-game Saturday as they host the Leafs |
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Saturday February 12 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks - 4 p.m. PT
Well, the big day on the Canucks' calendar is finally here.
Nearly two months after Vancouver's originally scheduled home date with the Toronto Maple Leafs was postponed as the Omicron variant surged before Christmas, the two teams will finally get their chance to face off at Rogers Arena on Saturday — with the much-maligned 4 p.m. local start time, of course.
It's a quick turnaround for the conversion team, too. On Friday night, the Vancouver Warriors defeated the Saskatchewan Rush by a score of 13-7 in lacrosse action, in front of a pretty solid crowd of 5,830.
Of course, the Canucks are still operating at 50% of capacity, which has to be disappointing from a revenue perspective for a big game like this one. For their five home games to date since they got back at it in late January, crowds have ranged from 9,124 against the Coyotes on Tuesday up as high as 9,424 against the Blues on Jan. 23.
On the ice, the Canucks should have the advantage in net, as the goaltending matchup is set to be Thatcher Demko vs. Petr Mrazek.
The Leafs are trying to get some rest for Jack Campbell — and, presumably, to see what they have in Mrazek. They signed the 29-year-old to a pretty substantial free-agent contract last summer: three years at a cap hit of $3.8 million per season, with a 10-team no-trade list. And they're tight to the cap, with Campbell making just $1.6 million this year and on his way to unrestricted free agency.
So, Mrazek has started four of Toronto's last seven games — and won them all, giving up just nine goals in total in wins over the Islanders, Detroit, New Jersey and Carolina.
It was Campbell who took the loss in the Leafs' last outing, a 5-2 defeat in Calgary on Thursday.
As I'm sure you've heard, the Leafs are cruising along pretty well right now — although their 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games barely has them keeping pace with Florida and Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. Right now, they're six points behind the Panthers and five back of the Lightning. But they have multiple games in hand on both teams, so that race is tighter than it looks at first glance.
Toronto went into the All-Star Break with a 7-1 beatdown of the New Jersey Devils, and came out with a pretty impressive 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes — where ex-Cane Mrazek out-duelled the former Leaf, Freddy Andersen.
Overall, the Leafs come into Saturday's game sitting fourth in goals per game, and now have the league's top power play, clicking at 29.6%.
With 31 goals, Auston Matthews sits two behind co-leaders Chris Kreider and Leon Draisaitl. What's arguably more impressive is that he's riding a six-game point streak, where he has 13 points, and has climbed into a tie for eighth spot in the Art Ross race with 54 points, level with Steven Stamkos.
His linemate, Mitch Marner, has also been red hot. He was held off the scoresheet in Calgary on Thursday, but that snapped an eight-game point streak where he'd tallied 19 points.
Conor Garland's old Arizona Coyotes teammate, Michael Bunting, has been along for the ride on left wing, and enjoying himself enormously. The 26-year-old is on a bargain two-year contract with a cap hit of $950,000 per season. He currently sits fifth in the rookie scoring race with 14 goals and 30 points.
As for the Canucks — I'm hoping that they'll come out with a strong effort after the New York Islanders caught them napping on Wednesday. And — knock on wood — they've been on a pretty good run with their penalty killing, which has been a perfect 8-for-8 over the last three games.
At practice on Friday, Bruce Boudreau said that Travis Hamonic would be a game-time decision — ready for sure in time for next week's game in San Jose, but possibly good to go against the Leafs. I appreciate the physicality that Kyle Burroughs and Luke Schenn have been delivering on the right side of the blue line. Here's hoping this is the last game without Quinn Hughes.
Elias Pettersson comes into Saturday's contest with goals in back-to-back games, so perhaps he's in a good spot for a big night in the national spotlight. I wonder if Elliotte Friedman will stir the pot with more Canucks-related trade rumours?
And out in the Valley, the Abbotsford Canucks will be looking for their fourth straight win on Saturday, when they wrap up a back-to-back set against the Manitoba Moose.
Abbotsford is on a scoring spree — beating the Tucson Roadrunners 8-5 and 5-0 earlier in the week, then taking out the Moose by an 8-2 score on Friday. With nine points in those three games, including four goals on Friday, Sheldon Dries has now taken over top spot in the Abbotsford scoring race, with 22-17-39. Sheldon Rempal is second with 18-18-36 and Nic Petan sits third with 9-22-31, so those three offseason signings are all paying nice dividends.
The surge has not yet done much to impact Abbotsford's place in the Pacific Division standings, though. The Canucks still sit sixth in the nine-team grouping in both points percentage and real points, three games above .500 with 40 points in 37 games.
To close today — a fresh slice of Cammi Granato content.
Before her hiring by the Canucks came together, she'd been in the midst of promoting her new children's book, 'I Can Play Too,' which just launched.
I had a chance to chat with her about the book, how it came together, and why its message of empowerment for girls in sports — and in life — is still important.
Now, she can also play in the executive suite, as she continues to blaze trails and break barriers.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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